Biochemical Fingerprinting of Shorea robusta C.F.Gaertn Leaves: Qualitative Detection and Quantitative Estimation of Medicinally Important Phytoconstituents

Abstract

Shorea robusta C.F.Gaertn is a common medicinal tree, popular for its resinous exudates and traditional therapeutic uses. Despite its ethnopharmacological significance, there remains an absence of comprehensive information on solvent-dependent phytochemical diversity, GC–MS based metabolite profiling and antimicrobial activity against clinically important pathogens. Successive extracts of S. robusta C.F.Gaertn extract were prepared with methanol, ethanol, hexane and petroleum ether. The function of antimicrobial action was determine by the disc diffusion method using Bacillus anthracis, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and phytochemical screening and GC–MS finger printing analysis (SM_MTNGU 3429) were carried out to identify bioactive constituents. Alkaloids was detected in all extract. Flavonoids, saponins, phytosterols and terpenoids were mainly present in the methanol and ethanol fractions. GC–MS profiling revealed a major peak at RT 25.150 min corresponding to terpenoid compounds such as bergamotene and related sesquiterpenes with reported antioxidant and antimicrobial properties. Antibacterial screening of ethanol extract exhibited the greatest suppressive activity (15-17.34mm) towards all the tested pathogens accompanied by methanol extract and hexane and petroleum ether extracts showed comparatively lower activity. Higher inhibition zones (up to 24.33 mm) were observed with streptomycin, thus confirming the assay. The study uncovers Shorea robusta C.F.Gaertn resin as a prolific reservoir of secondary metabolites terpenoid-rich metabolites with notable antibacterial potential in a solvent-dependent manner. Thus these observation confirmed its therapeutic use and may provide a future to produce organic antibacterial and antioxidant agents for pharmacological and therapeutic applications.